Marketing Intelligence

"According to the CTIA-Wireless Association, over 250 million Americans were subscribed to a cellular-phone service last year. That places the penetration rate at 82.4 percent" (taken from Gearlog.com)

"Marketing Intelligence is the systematic collection and analysis of publicly available information about consumers, competitors, and developments in the marketplace." (Kotler, Marketing: An Introduction, Ch. 4 pg. 100)

The fact that my eCook cookbook is uniquely digital, web-enabled, and can be accessed from any web-enabled device causes my product to fit right into the current technological environment, especially since it works similar to the popular online social networking webisites & communities such as MySpace and Facebook.

"Technological Environment: Forces that create new technologies, creating new product and market opportunities." (Kotler, Marketing: An Introduction, Ch. 3 pg. 81)

The Old Marketing Strategy...

Our company had originally wanted only teens and college students who lived independently and and wanted to learn to cook for themselves. This was example of niche marketing. However, we later realized how useful our product could be to other groups of people as well.

"Concentrated (niche) marketinng: A market-coverage strategy in which a firm goes after a large share of one or a few segments or niches." (Kotler, Marketing: An Introduction, Ch.6 pg. 178)

The eCook has an Undifferentiated Market

Our company will use a mass-marketing strategy to reach our consumers. The reason why is because almost everyone today owns some sort of electronic device such as a cell phone, portable media player, or a laptop among plenty of others. People own these things regardless of their age, gender, or demographic.

"Using an undifferentiated marketing strategy, a firm might decide to ignore market segment differences and target the whole market with one offer. This mass-marketing strategy focuses on what is common in the needs of consumers rather than on what is different. The company designs a product and a marketing program that will appeal to the largest number of buyers." (Kotler, Marketing: An Introduction, Ch. 6 pg.177)

The Test Marketing Stage of the eCook

To get on with the test marketing stage of my product, I have released a beta version of the eCook cookbook for prospective users and potential customers to either download to their desktop or simply use directly from this blog. The purpose is for them to try it out and report feedback about it. So far, anyone is open to become a beta-tester for my product.

"Test Marketing: the stage of new-product development in which the product and marketing program are tested in realistic market settings." (Kotler, Marketing: An Introduction, Ch. 8 pg. 240)

eCook's Product Development

On our blog, you can find a web-based concept demo of the eCook cookbook that will eventually be available for download. When necessary, we will hire a team of programmers, graphic artists, and designers to develop and port the official and complete application for use on various electronic devices.

"So far, for many new-product concepts, the product may have existed only as a word description, a drawing, or perhaps a crude mock-up. If the product concept passes the business test, it moves into product development." (Kotler, Marketing: An Introduction, Ch. 8 pg. 239)

My company's brand name:

eCook

"A brand is a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of these, that identifies the maker or seller of a product or service." (Kotler, Marketing: An Introduction, Ch. 7 pg. 206)